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We’ve been listening closely to the feedback regarding EE 2.0’s release plans and we’re going to implement a few important changes to better reflect the needs of the Community and what we want to accomplish on 12/1.

The most important change is a vocab one. On 12/1 we will be releasing the ExpressionEngine 2.0 Public Beta (PB). We previously referred to it as a Release Candidate. We think calling it a Public Beta will help people better evaluate whether they should use EE 2.0 PB or EE 1.6.8 for a project.

To go along with this change we are making ExpressionEngine 1.6.8 available for purchase separately from EE 2.0 PB. You can purchase one or the other (or both!). The pricing for EE 1.6.8 will remain at the current $99.95/$249.95.

Continue reading…

Official ExpressionEngine 2.0 Public Beta FAQ

Scanning briefly over all the updated information, I didn’t see if when we purchase 2.0 PB that we still receive a 1.6.8 license too. Is this still the case? Maybe I didn’t read close enough. Thanks!

My first ugly thought was…this explains why 2.0 took so long, but then I remembered I love using EE and just quite happy at 1.6.8.

Glad to hear we can still purchase 1.6.8 separately for the current price, very cool move!

Does EE2 retain the table structure of EE1 - in particular, storing all site data in a single table with (potentially) many columns?

Will an EE2 install automatically include a full install of CI?

Guys that’s pretty dissapointing news. When I hear beta, I think “not ready for production environments”.  Is that the message you’re sending?

‘cos I question whether or not I want to swallow a price increase to find your bugs for you. I would have been very happy to donate my time to the beta process, but pay for it? No thanks. This sounds a lot like a back-track on an announced release date.

Anyway, thanks for the clarification. I’ve got part-written spec document for a new site that I will now adjust to say we’ll be sticking with 1.6.8 (which I still think is great, in case this sounds too grumpy!)

Grand idea, especially as there will be a delay before all the major addons are converted. (And by major i mean the ones that i use!!! and assume others do too!!!).

Interested to answers to some of the questions raised in all the posts above too…
Especially as it is 6 days away from launch!

Yeah, just like Gmail and all the other Google services. Nobody would ever dream of using those in a production environment…

I’ll ignore your sarcasm Sock Puppet and attempt to clarify my question.

I think it more than reasonable to have the term “beta” clarified before handing over $300. Is this software sold as ready to use in production websites or not? If not - fine, I’ll be more than happy to stick with 1.6.8 which - as I said - is an excellent product.

Whether to deploy 1.6 or 2.0 is something that will need to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, at least for the time being.
I’m used to including certain must-have modules/extensions/plugins in a default client EE-install so as long as these aren’t ported over (or have a 2.0 alternative) we’ll have to judge which option to take.
Which is perfectly fine by me, I wasn’t expecting an immediate switch to 2.0 anyway, and in this way the platform gets time to mature and evolve.

I really don’t to come across as a “special case” whinger but this casts a shadow over the freelancer edition for me.

I’d like a public facing site which supports my one-man business so I need a commercial licence but I currently have no option other than 1.6.8 or one of the 2.0 PB licences.

We await details but freelancer sounds like it could meet my needs, however I can’t downgrade from 1.6.8 to freelancer and as someone has remarked if I buy freelancer then I’d be paying for participation in a beta program.

As it stands, people who might want freelancer have no legitimate way to put up solid freelancer style (presumably lighter weight) commercial sites without paying for 1.6.8.

So freelancer is currently for gamblers, if it works, great. Otherwise my one-man business site (which, among other things, extols the wonders of EE) may be flaky.

Of course, all this is moot, freelancer may be so feature compromised that it may not meet my needs anyway.

How about a single “early adopter” licence per user for those wishing to gamble?

I think this is a good decision!

To me, Public Beta says the core functionality is going to work and is ready for public use, but perhaps not all add-ons are ready and there could be some bugs that the beta testers haven’t yet found. If I have a new site, or a simpler site to build, I’d go for a public beta, no worries. If I have an existing site that hinges on some specific functionality or add-on, I’d test that out before jumping in.

Public Beta says it all!

Scanning briefly over all the updated information, I didn’t see if when we purchase 2.0 PB that we still receive a 1.6.8 license too. Is this still the case? Maybe I didn’t read close enough. Thanks!

It could be worded a bit more clearly, perhaps. My reading is: yes.

You can buy either 1.6.8 (alone)

OR

You can buy EE 2.0 (1.6.8 + 50 bucks) which includes 1.6.8 and then decide which one of the two you will run.

In other words, one isn’t required to buy 2.0 at this stage.

.... now we’ll see how good that reading was.

It could be worded a bit more clearly, perhaps. My reading is: yes.

You can buy either 1.6.8 (alone)

OR

You can buy EE 2.0 (1.6.8 + 50 bucks) which includes 1.6.8 and then decide which one of the two you will run.

In other words, one isn’t required to buy 2.0 at this stage.

.... now we’ll see how good that reading was.

Guess we will just have to wait and see! :D

Scanning briefly over all the updated information, I didn’t see if when we purchase 2.0 PB that we still receive a 1.6.8 license too. Is this still the case? Maybe I didn’t read close enough. Thanks!

Almost.

When you purchase ExpressionEngine 2.0 PB you will receive download access to both EE 2.0 PB and EE 1.6.8. You get a single license that allows you to use one or the other on a live site. This means you can start with EE 1.6.8 and use 2.0 PB in a sandbox, test installation, etc… and upgrade the live project from 1.6.8 to 2.0 when you are ready.

I’ve updated the Will ExpressionEngine 1.6.8 still be available after December 1st? question to clarify this.

I think it more than reasonable to have the term “beta” clarified before handing over $300. Is this software sold as ready to use in production websites or not? If not - fine, I’ll be more than happy to stick with 1.6.8 which - as I said - is an excellent product.

I think the FAQ makes clear that EE 2.0 PB is appropriate for some production environments and not others. It really depends on the type of project being launched. The term “beta” is just that, a beta. Its going to have bugs and there will almost certainly be issues that a public beta will bring to light that a private beta won’t. We’ll react to those with our usual speed and professionalism.

For some projects, this will be acceptable, for others it won’t.

If you purchase EE 2.0 PB you get access to both 1.6.8 and 2.0 PB so you can start with the time proven stable version and move when you’re ready. Or you can save $50 and just purchase EE 1.6.8 and move to 2.x when its out of Public Beta. There are great arguments for both cases which is why we’re offering both.